Like stock and equipment, data and information are valuable to businesses and it is critical they are secured correctly. Data may be protected by privacy laws, confidentiality agreements or may be proprietary information that keeps us ahead of our competition.
What information needs to be secured?
Personally Identifiable Information is any information that could identify a specific individual. Data like tax file numbers, address or location, and health and financial information are all PII.
Intellectual Property is information such as designs, creative material, formulas and exclusive knowledge.
Propriety Information is data used by your business to stay ahead of the competition, such as sales data, customer data, organisational structure, strategy and pricing information.
What can you do to secure information?
Only used approved corporate methods to share data
Never share data with personal email addresses, even if it’s your boss’s personal email address
Never share data with someone outside the business unless there is a clear, agreed reason to do so.
If in doubt, don’t share
If you see data being shared incorrectly, or not properly secured, let someone know
